Month: January 2015

Welcome to my new followers and I hope that you enjoy all my creative endeavours and that you are inspired to stretch and challenge yourself to create your own artwork.

Today I would like to feature some wedding cards that have been inspired by Pinterest but I have given them my own twist. I loved this card design and was determined to make one but I couldn’t find a subtle enough background paper and then I remembered a blog post Make It From Your Heart – the CTMH blog, on how to do backgrounds with ink and using the all purpose mat creating a wonderful one of a kind paper. You can see the step by step instructions here. However, I have taken it one step further and used some pearl paint to create a lovely pearlescent finish and I was so pleased with the result that I did quite a number of colours and mixtures and you will see the results over the next few weeks. I have put a little blob of paint in the small spray bottles available from my website and sprayed the paint on top of the ink to make it bubble and then placed the paper over the ink.

Here are some that I have done with Pixie and Flaxen inks. The colours do not really come up well in the photo but looked beautiful with the mix of the lovely pink and the flaxen came up looking like antique gold.

Here is a photo that shows the shine in the card.

The card did not take long to dry and I did use a heavy book to flatten the card ready to make some cards.

Anyway here is the first card I have made using just Glacier ink. I have always loved this pattern when I first saw it on Pinterest and as I said I didn’t feel that the papers I had were suitable for what I was trying to achieve in a ‘bathroom’ I was rapt at how the Glacier colours looked like marble with the pearlescent finish and the white shimmer trim finished it off perfectly along with the silver embossing of the tag from the Cricut Artfully Sent Curlicue stamp set. This card was really quick and easy to make once everything had been assembled. I also used some Opaques – licorice which is no longer available.

This inspired me to move on with a different pattern from Pinterest – this time using embossing folders to make wedding cake cards. The Pixie and Flaxen background cardstock made a wonderful backdrop to the wedding cake and I have mixed up the cards with a combination of Pixie and White Daisy cardstock and silver accents with clear sparkles to highlight the flowers. The flowers have been cut using the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge and I have shaped them a little before putting them on the card. The rose has been made using the same technique as my last blog post here. The sentiments for the cards as well as the bridal couple and wedding bells are from The Happy Couple wedding stamp set. I have used the versamark pad and silver embossing powder to stamp them and fussy cut out the shapes. The ribbon is the Seam Binding Ribbon which is no longer available.

This lace border has been cut using a Martha Stewart punch – my only non-CTMH tool that I have used as that lace border fitted in well with the theme.

For the card with a flower on it I have made a box envelope to hold the card in so it won’t get so squashed. If you are interested in the dimensions please let me know and I will put up a post with the instructions in the next few days.

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Many thanks for all the visits and lovely comments for my cards on the blog hop.

Today I will be showing you how I made the roses on the lovely trinket box that I showed a couple of posts ago.

I love rolling roses but I have also seen some other amazing roses on Pinterest and You Tube and thought I would have a look in the CTMH Cricut cartridges and see what I can find to match some of the punches that have been used. I needed a flower with 5 petals and I found the perfect shape on page 54 of the Artiste cartridge booklet – Accent 3>shift key. This one was good as it had a jagged edge to make it easier to make a shabby chic rose. I cut out two different sizes – 2″ and 2 1/2″ in Colonial White cardstock.

A couple of years ago I was very fortunate to win a Sizzix Susan’s Garden tool kit in an online challenge and it is now coming in very useful to help shape flowers. I watched a few videos on the Sizzix website to learn how to use all the tools properly and put them to the test with these flowers. I used the petal shaping tool to shape the flowers and the large ball embossing tool in the centre to create the cupcake shape.

I cut down a little to the centre of the flowers on three of the flowers to make it easier to create the centre of the flower.

Unfortunately, I don’t have photos of putting the flowers together and I am not comfortable doing a video but there are a number of videos on You Tube that will show you how to put these flowers together – this is one of the many I watched here. I used a hot glue gun to put the flowers together so please excuse the strands of glue. I have tried using liquid glass but it is not as good to glue quickly.

I glued two opposite petals together and then glued the other petals around the centre to create the bud of the flower.

I then glued the next layer onto the base and overlapped the petals by gluing at the base of each petal.

I did the same with the third layer of petals.

And the fourth layer.

And the fifth layer. Once all the layers were together I then used my tweezers to roll the outer petals out to create the finished rose.

Here are some of the completed roses. I am really happy how they turned out and they are all so different. It was interesting how the script stamp ended up looking like veins in the petals and the colours worked really well together.

Now that I had my roses I had purchased a couple of the trinket boxes in the while supplies last section on my website. I love the Flaxen cardstock and it matched really well with the Bamboo and Blush colours I had used. I covered the box with Flaxen cardstock and then I again used the script stamp on Colonial White cardstock with Bamboo ink and then sponged the edges with the ink. I then cut the flourish from Art Philosophy on page 58 Font Layer in Bamboo cardstock using Cricut Craft Room to get the correct size that I wanted. I then sponged with a mixture of Bamboo, Flaxen and Desert Sand ink which came up like an antique gold colour. This was then placed on the corner of the box.

The leaves have been cut out of Olive cardstock and I have used the leaf shaping tool to make the veins and then shaped the leaves for dimension and I then sponged the edges with New England Ivy.

I worked out where I could put the pearl flourish (unfortunately, no longer available) and then placed it on the box. I then glued one large and two small roses in a triangle over the the flourish and pearl flourish. I spent time placing the leaves in a pleasing manner and then finished off with the lovely rosette ribbon that is also no longer available. (I am trying to work through some of my stash). I placed three single ribbon roses around the base of the roses to add to the Shabby Chic look.

Around the base of the box I did the same with Flaxen cardstock and the script cardstock. I then cut two flourishes form page 50 of the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge using the mirror image in Cricut Craft Room and using the same technique that was used on the flourish on the top I then antiqued them and glued them to the front. And voila a Shabby Chic box.

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Hello and welcome aboard our You’re the Bomb Australasian Close to My Heart Blog Hop. If you have arrived here from Maz’s blog Inky Fingers, then you are in the right place. If you landed here by accident, no problem, please join in by following the link at the end of this post.

Operation Smile is a private, not for profit organisation providing reconstructive surgery to children and young adults born in developing countries. Close To My Heart is partnered with Operation Smile®, an organization that provides free, life-changing surgery that repairs smiles and reshapes lives, one child at a time. Since 2008, Close To My Heart has provided support to change the lives of over 1,500 children and their families. For more information about Operation Smile please visit www.operationsmile.org

On 1st December Close to My Heart Consultants released our Seasonal Expressions Idea Book. On the back page of this Idea book you will find the C- sized, You’re the bomb stamp set. By purchasing this set at full retail price of $25 you can help change the life of a child as CTMH will donate $US3 from your purchase to Operation smile. This special is available until the 31 March so be in quick to get this stamp set and make your donation to this very worthy cause.

Today we will be sharing some inspiration using “You’re the Bomb“. We hope you will be compelled to purchase this set and in so doing, contribute to the life changing work of operation smile.

The blog hop is a loop with about 11 participants so follow along and you will end up right back here. If you get lost there is a list of participants on Mandy’s Blog here.

I would like to share with you some cards that I have made with this stamp set. I struggled with some inspiration so looked at the Seasonal Expressions Idea Book to get started.

I love the simplicity of the card that is used for the book and took that and changed it a little with different papers and embellishments. I have used Heartstrings and Hopscotch papers and mixed them up as well as using different coloured inks to stamp. The hearts are from the This Moment stamp set and I have used a combination of stamping and fussy cutting as well as first and generation stamping. Sometimes less is more and I would like to thank the CTMH art department for the inspiration.

Then I was able to stretch out with the Hopscotch paper and use different embellishments. I love the look of faux stitching on the sentiment and how it makes it stand out more. I used the Marvy Uchida LePen Journalling pen that is available from CTMH. It has a lovely fine nib and lasts a long time. I don’t normally cut the corners on my cards but this card worked really well with this finish.

Thanks for joining me on this journey, the “You’re the Bomb” stamp set is available from your CTMH consultant here and $3USD from every purchase will go directly to Operation Smile.
To continue your journey, hop over to see what Mandy has created on her blog, Hall of Indulgence and see what fabulous ideas she has come up with.

I love the stamp sets in the new Seasonal Expressions and in particular I love the A Thing Well Done which is a hostess stamp set (this month if you would like a gathering there is a special deal for you). I just love the butterfly in this stamp set and also the card that is accompanying the stamp set in the book. I haven’t got the same embossing folder and that is on my wish list to get. The butterflies have been stamped with Flaxen, Sorbet and Outdoor Denim inks. The background stamp has been stamped with Versamark ink and embossed with Silver embossing powder. I have then sponged Sorbet ink over the top and tried to graduate the colour up the panel.

This really inspired me to go further with some more cards. The colours that I used in that project inspired me to do some cards with the same colour scheme – Creme Brulee and Sorbet. (Creme Brulee is no longer available and I am using up my scraps). This stamp set is from the Happy Autumn stamp set and it is great to put the stamps together to make a lovely picture. I have used the rock and roll technique for the flowers and leaves. I am not sure about putting a sentiment on the card as I had someone come into Gift Hutt the other day asking for a plain card without a sentiment. However, I think that I might look at putting on on the bottom right corner. I have used my favourite pattern again from Make It From Your Heart Volume 2 pattern 28 and embossed the panels with the Dots and Chevron embossing folders.

Finally I did this card again using a combination of the Happy Autumn and Amour stamp sets. I have used the script background stamp technique for the small panels which are 1 3/4″ x 2″ each and then stamped the small flowers on top with Olive ink. (this has been inspired by a card on Pinterest, except that I have added my own twist). I have matted each panel with Cocoa and then onto Flaxen cardstock which has been cut at 4″ x 5 1/4″ . I placed a trim of Cocoa cardstock in the middle and then tied some Olive bakers twine. The sentiment is from the Just to Say Artfully Sent stamp set and I have matted it with the Cocoa and Flaxen cardstock.

Edited – I have just entered this card in the Atlantic Hearts Challenge Blog – check it out here.

Finally here is a sneak peak at my next blog post where I will put a tutorial up to show how I have made the roses.

I have used the script stamp on the roses as well as the on the back ground but more about that next post. So be sure to pop back to check it out.

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I have still be working on finishing off the Kaisercraft wooden kits and today I would like to feature this gazebo/t-lite holder that I have decorated up with the wonderful CTMH products.

I have painted the main parts of the gazebo/t-lite holder with a mixture of the Create a Shade Paint and Flaxen re-inker to give it a pearly metallic look. I have painted the rest with a flat acrylic paint Burnt Umber from Daler Rowney for some contrast. I sealed everything with Modge Podge. I have really enjoyed using a paint brush again but found it tiring.

Now for the flowers.and leaves.

For the flowers I have used Creme Brulee cardstock and cut out the shapes using the same pattern from Cathy Derouche that I used with the bird and the cage here. The shapes have been sponged with Smoothie ink and the flowers turned out even better than I thought they would be. I have not used a lot of Creme Brulee or Smoothie cardstock or ink but the combination is stunning. I have cut two smaller sizes from Cathy’s instructions to have a progression in size up the sides and around the top. I have also done a number of single roses as rose buds.

The leaves have been cut out from Olive cardstock using the Artiste cartridge page 54 of the booklet at 1″ and .75″ and I have scored the veins and then sponged the edges with Olive ink.

The other leaves have been cut from the Art Philosophy cartridge page 35 of the booklet at 2″ from Flaxen cardstock and I have sponged the edges with Olive ink. I used my hot glue gun as my hand was a little sore to keep squeezing the Liquid glass bottle.

This would look great with a matching coloured glass with a t-lite inside and/or on a wedding table.

I have finished with the Kaisercraft and will look to get back into cardmaking and scrapbooking. I have a big fair coming up and need to do a variety of cards to sell there and I have another blog hop to do.

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Hello and welcome aboard our Stamp of the Month Australasian Close to My Heart Blog Hop. If you have arrived here from Doris Taylor’s blog Creative Inspirations, then you are in the right place. If you landed here by accident, no problem, please join in by following the link at the end of this post.

I apologise if this is a repeat post for you. I had accidentally pressed publish for my first draft and of course once that happens you can’t take it back, unfortunately. Gotta love technology sometimes!

Today I would like to share with you some cards which features the January SOTM This Moment which is available exclusively throughout January for $33 or for just $5 when you spend $75.

This stamp set would be perfect for wedding and Valentine Day layouts but I didn’t have any suitable photos so I made some cards instead using the Heartstrings papers as they were a good match with this stamp set. The Heartstrings papers are from the Seasonal Expressions catalogue which is available until the end of March. I have also kept the cards simple by sticking to the papers, stamps and coordinating cardstocks and inks.

Finally here is a very quick and easy card utilising the gorgeous Heartstrings papers. I have place a matted trim of coordinating paper across in order to place the simple stamped Hello that has been matted on Cranberry cardstock and then finished with a bow from the retired Ariana Assortments.